Soil pulverizer



1949- I w. A. HYLAND 2,470,619

SOIL PULVERIZER Original Filed May 28, 1943 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 mvsmox LIAM A. HYLAND May 17, 1949. w. A. HYLAND 2,470,619

SOIL PULVERIZER Original Filed May 2a, 1943 v s Sheets-Sheet 2 w. A. HYLAND May 17, 1949.

SOIL PULVERIZER 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Origirf'al Filed May 28, 1943 D RN v .mA M m L H FIG. 5

Patented May 17, 1949 SOIL PULVERIZER William A. Hyland, Horicon, Wis., assignor to John Deere Van Brunt Company, a corporation of Wisconsin Original application May 28, 1943, Serial No. 488,930, now Patent No. 2,418,937, dated April 15, 1947. Divided and this application August 30, 1944, Serial No. 551,926

This application is a division of the co-pending application, Serial No. 488,930, filed May 28, 1943, for Soil pulverizer, by myself and Royce R. Borngraeber, now U. S. Patent 2,418,937, dated April 15, 1947.

The present invention relates generally to land rollers, such as packers, pulverizers and the like.

The object and general nature of the present invention is the provision of a simple and inexpensive type of packer in which the axle is eliminated. Further, it is a feature of this invention to provide improved bearing means and improved means for holding the various wheel elements together to form the roller unit. It is also a feature of this invention to provide an arrangement wherein substance, such as sand, shot or the like, may be added to the roller to increase the effective weight thereof and to increase the efliciency and usefulness of the machine.

Another feature of this invention is the provision of a land roller or pulverizer formed of a plurality of wheel sections which are held together by suitable fastening means that also serves to hold the end bearings in position.

These and other advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a plan view of a packer or pulverizer in which the principles of the present invention have been incorporated.

Figure 2 is a side view of the machine shown in ,Figure 1, with the seeding attachment in place.

Figure 3 is an enlarged view taken generally along the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a view showing a part of the bearing structure when no seeding attachment is used.

Figure 5 shows a modified gang bolt arrangement by which the packer wheels of a wide implement may be held in assembled relation.

Figure 6 is a view taken generally along the line 6-45 of Figure 5.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly Figures 1, 2 and 3, the land roller is indicated in its entirety by the reference numeral i and is propelled by a farm tractor indicated in its entirety by the reference numeral 2. The land roller l comprises a frame 3 which is made up of a pair of forwardly converging bars 4 and 5 which at their forward ends are connected together to form a hitch 6 that is connected by a clevis I to the tractor 2. The forward ends 6 5 Claims. (Cl. 55-77) of the bars 4 and 5 are also connected to the front end of a longitudinally extending frame member 8 which at its rear end is connected at 9 to a front cross bar II. The bar ll isbolted at its ends, as at l2, to the rear portions of the frame bars 4 and 5. The cross bar II is disposed in front of a land roller unit, indicated in its entirety by the reference numeral l5 and which will be described in detail below. The rear ends of the bars 4 and! are-bolted, as at H, to forward extensions l8 of journal box members l9, one of which is shown in detail in Figure 3. Short longitudinal bars 2| are bolted at their forward ends to the journal box castings l9 and at their rear ends are bolted to a rear frame member 22, which is disposed rearwardly of the land roller unit l5.

As best shown in Figures 2 and 3, the roller unit l5 comprises a plurality of nested packer wheels 25, each wheel being open at its center, as indicated by the reference numeral 26, and provided with two side sections 21 and 28 connected together circumferentially by a V-shaped rim 29 in which a sharp cutting edge 3| is formed. The cutting edge 3| is disposed in a plane that extends at an acute angle with respect to the axis of the assembled wheels and, as best shown in Figure 3, lies fairly close to the plane of the side 21 of the wheel at one side thereof and at the other side thereof quite close to the plane of the other side 28. wheel, as for example the side 28, is extended radially inwardly a slight additional amount as compared with the other side 21 and is provided with an axially directed fiange'33, the outer diameter of which is substantially equal to the inner diameter of the opening 34 formed in the other side 2'1. Also, radially outwardly of the flange 33 and the opening 34 the sides 21 and 28 are provided with bolt-receiving openings 35 and 35, there being at least three of such openings in each side 21 and 28. Theopenings are in registry to permit passing a bolt therethrough. The flange 33 is adapted to receive the apertured portion 21 of the next adjacent wheel, and the other wheels, being identical, likewise receive the adjacent wheels in interlocked or nested relation, with the openings 35 and 36 of all of the wheels in alignment. A plurality, preferably three, of gang bolts or tie rods 38, 39 and 40 are extended through said wheels so as to hold the one against the other.

The roller unit I5 is mounted for rotation in the frame I between the front and rear cross bars H and 22 by a pair of bearing units which are One of the sides of each substantially identical and which will now be described. A bearing member 45 is provided with a bearing proper, indicated by the reference numeral 48, and a flange section 41. The latter is apertured, as at 48 (Figure 3), to receive the 5 ends of the gang bolts 38, 38 and 40, the bearing member 45 being a cylindrical section disposed for rotation in the journal box I8. Figure 3 shows the details of the bearing 45 for the left end of the roller unit. The bearing construction for the right end is substantially the same except that, as best shown in Figure 3, the right hand end bearing 45' is provided with a recessed section 48 to receive the flange 33 of the right hand wheel unit 25. It will be seen from Figure 3 that the heads of the gang bolts 38, 38 and 40 bear against the flange section of the right hand bearing member- 45' while the threaded ends of the gang bolts, pass through the flange section 41 of the bearing member 45, and screwed onto the threaded ends of the gang bolts are nuts 5| which, when tightened, serve to clamp both bearing members 45 and 45' and all of the packer wheels firmly and rigidly together in assembled relation. It will be noted that the flange section 41 includes an axially directed section 52 which is of substantially the same dimensions as the flange 33 of the packer wheel, and hence fits snugly within the opening 34 in the side 21 of the laterally outer packer wheel. The wheel section 34 and the flange 52 at one end of the rollerunlt and the wheel section 33 and recessed section 48 at the other end of the roller unit form cooperating shouldered and abutment portions which interlock with one another so as to maintain the end bearings, described below, in alignment.

It will be noted that this form of roller unit requires no through axle shaft. The associated journal box I8. is formed with an outwardly facing shoulder 53 against which a thrust plate 54 bears. The thrust plate 54 is rigidly clamped to the bearing member by means of abolt 55, the square head 58 of which seats in a correspondingly formed socket 51. The threaded end of the bolt 55 extends laterally outwardly through 45 the adjacent portion of the bearing member 45 and the thrust plate 54' and receives a nut 58 which when tightened fixes the plate 54 to the associated bearing member. In order to keep the thrust plate from turning relative to the bearing member, the latter is formed with a lug 8| that is adapted to be disposed in an opening 62 formed in the thrust plate. Referring to Figure 4, when the roller is sold without a seeding attachment, the outer end of the journal box is 56 closed by a cap having an interior annular inwardly facing groove 51 and a weakened frangible section 58. At the inner side the journal box I8 is provided with inner sealing means 58. The cap member 55 is secured to the journal box 00 "by any suitable means as a bayonet type joint 1| or any other suitable fastening means, so that the inner shoulder 12 of the cap 55 is disposed against the outer face of the thrust plate 54, thus confining the latter and preventing axial 5 displacement of the roller unit relative to the frame and vice versa. It will be understood that the bearing construction at the other side of the implement is as described above.

Referring to Figure 1, it will be noted that with the cutting edges 3| disposed in inclined or angled planes, the corrugations or radially inwardly disposed portions C are likewise disposed in planes lying at an angle to the axis of the roller unit I5, and hence fixed scrapers fastened to the frame I -is placed in the groove 51.

4. cannot be provided for clearing the corrugations C of adhering soil and the like. As more clearly set forth in the divisional application, Serial No. 551,925, filed August 30, 1944, for Soil pulverizer, by Royce R. Borngraeber, now U. S. Patent No. 2,426,482, issued August 26, 1947, to which reference may be made if necessary, there is provided a plurality of laterally flexible means connected with the frame I and lying in the grooves or corrugations C of the roller unit I5 50 as to clear the same of adhering soil and the like but, being flexible, such means easily accommodate the lateral shifting of the corrugations or grooves when the roller unit I5 rotates. These scraper elements, indicated in their entirety by the referance numeral 15, comprise chains 15 anchored at their front ends by means of rings 11 to the front cross bar II and by means of rings 18 at their rear ends to the rear cross bar 22. The chains 15 are fitted with suificient looseness so that they may have the requisite lateral movement to follow the corrugations C during the rotation of the roller unit I5.

As best shown in Figure 2, a seeding attachment 85 may be mounted on the frame 3, as by pairs of braces 85 and 81 and a center brace 88 cooperating with the center frame bar 8. The seeding unit 85 is more or less of conventional construction, comprising a seed container 89 having a hinged cover 8I and suitable seed dispensing elements 82 controlled or driven by a seeding shaft 93. The seed dispensing elements 82 carry or are provided with suitable spout means constructed so as to scatter the seed forward of the packer wheels 25. A relatively large sprocket wheel 84 is fixed to the leftend of the seeding shaft 83 and receives a sprocket chain 85 trained around a driving sprocket pinion 85. The sprocket pinion 85 is of special construction and, as best shown in Figure 3, includes a hub portion 81 provided with an interior threaded socket 88 whereby the sprocket pinion 85 may be screwed onto the end of the bolt 55 after the central part of the frangible or knock-out section 68 of the cap 55 has been broken away. To prevent loss of lubricant at this point, whenever the sprocket pinion is mounted, suitable sealing means 89 v The seeding unit 85 includes a control clutch IOI connected between the sprocket 94 and the seeding shaft 83. The clutch IOI is controlled by an arm I02 to the upper end of which a cable I03 is connected. The cable I03 extends forwardly through a supporting bracket I04 and is slidably received in a clip I05 carried by the center frame member 8, from which the cable I03 extends forwardly to the operator's station on the tractor. If desired. the cable I03 may be extended from the bracket I04 directly forwardly to the tractor. The present invention is not especially concerned with the particular details of the throw-out clutch I0 I Preferably, the clutch IOI is of substantially the same construction as the clutch shown in my prior U. S. Patent No. 2,336,099, dated December '7, 1943, to which reference may be made if necessary. I

A modified form of the present invention is shown in Figures 5 and 5. In this form of the invention the packer wheels 25 are mounted upon two sets of three rods or gang bolts. This form of the invention is particularly adaptable for very wide implements in which, due to the length of the gang bolts if they extended entirely from one end to the other, excessive stretch might be encountered. Referring now to Figures 5 and 6, the

. 5 left hand set of three gang bolts or rods are indicated by the reference numeral and the other set is indicated by the reference numeral ill. As best shown in Figure 5, it will be noted that the two sets of gang bolts overlap one another by an extent greater than the thickness of two of the packer wheels. The purpose of this arrangement is to divide the strain caused by the transfer of the tension in one set of rods through the center wheels to the other set of rods. It will be seen from Figure 6 that the openings 35 in the side 21 of each of the wheels are in the nature of slots. This facilitates placing the heads of the left hand set of gang bolts or rods i ill in the wheel a (Figure after all of the wheels to the right of the wheel a have been assembled on the gang bolts ll. After the gang bolts H0 are placed in the slots 35 in the side 21 of the wheel a, all of the wheels to the left of wheel a may then be threaded onto the rods, the first two wheels, indicated at b and c in Figure 5 being threaded onto both sets of rods or gang bolts while all wheels to the left of wheel 0 being threaded only onto the gang bolts l H), except that the inner side of wheel d is threaded onto the ends of the gang bolts i II and receives the associated clamping nuts I I2. It will be understood that the head ends of the right hand set of gang bolts l l I secure a bearing member, such as a member similar to the bearing member 45 of Figure 4, to the right end of the assembled packer wheels shown in Figure 6 and that the threaded ends of the left hand set of gang bolts H0 connect another bearing member, preferably identical with the right hand bearing member, to the left end of the assembled packer wheels.

Under certain soil conditions, it may be desirable to add weight to the roller unit, and, ac-

cording to the principles of the present invention,

this may be effected readily by pulling the packer onto an inclined surface, such as the side of a ditch or hill, or upon a slope of any kind, and then removing one end bearing and the end casting, parts i9 and 45 (Figure 3'). This is a very simple operation and can be performed in a. few minutes. Then material, such as sand, shot or the like, may be shoveled into the interior of the wheel unit, and after the desired additional weight has been incorporated, the members 45 and [9 are replaced and reconnected. This operation of adding weight to thewheel unit is materially facilitated by the lack of any through axle extending from one end to the other of the wheel unit as in prior art packers.

In the event that one of the wheels should break, all that is required to change to a new wheel is to remove the end bearing and axle, break out the damaged wheel by means of a hammer or sledge, slide all of the adjoining wheels laterally inwardly and then place a new wheel on the outside of the other wheels, replacing the end bearing and journal.

While I have shown and described above the preferred structure in which the principles of the present invention have been incorporated, it is to be understood that my invention is not to be limited to the particular details shown and described above but that Widely different means may be employed in the practice of the boarder aspects of my invention.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a soil packer, pulverizer, or the like, a plurality of soil-engaging wheels, each consisting of a member having laterally spaced sides the outer portions of which are connected b a rim portion of -V-section, forming a cutting edge that is disposed in a plane making an acute angle with respect to the axis of said wheel member, the sides of said wheel member being disposed in parallel planes perpendicular to said axis.

2. In a land roller, a plurality of nested packer wheels, two sets of gang bolts, each of said packer wheels having at least the same number of circumferentially spaced openings as the number of gang bolts in each of said sets of gang bolts and certain of the centrally disposed packer wheels having twice as many circumferentially spaced openings as the number of gang bolts in each set of gang bolts, the first set of gang boltsextending through apart of the total number of packer wheels for clamping them together, and a second set of gang bolts extending through the apertures in the remaining packer wheels and also through at least certain of the central packer wheels having the double set of circumferentially spaced openings, whereby the. two sets of gang bolts overlap at said central packer wheels and both sets serve to clamp the packer wheels firmly and rigidly together.

3. In a soil pulverizer, packer, or the like, a

plurality of substantially identical soil-engaging wheels, each comprising a hollow member having an open center and oppositely axially spaced sides, a laterally outwardly directed flange formed on one side of said wheel member, and each of said sides being formed with a plurality of gang bolt receiving openings disposed radially outwardly of said flange and the openings in one side of said wheel member registering with the openings in the other side thereof. I

4. A soil pulverizer comprising a plurality of nested wheels, each having flanges interconnect ed with the adjacent wheels, gang bolt means passing through the circumferential portions of all of said wheels for holding them together axially, a frame having axially spaced journal box members, a pair of bearing members separate from said end wheels, each bearing member having at its axially outer end an axially outwardly directed bearing section and at its axially inner end a radially outwardly extending flange, the radially outer portions of which overlap the adjacent circumferential portions of the associated end wheel, said outer portions of the bearing members and said circumferential portions of the end wheels having registering apertures so as to receive said gang bolts whereby said gang bolts not only hold said wheels. together axially but also hold said separate bearing members to said end wheels, and means at the axially outer ends of said bearing members for holding the associated journal box members of said frame against axial displacement.

5. A soil pulverizer comprising a plurality of nested intermediate and end wheels, each having laterally spaced apart flanges interconnected with the adjacent wheels andeach of said flanges including a planar section lying in a plane substantially perpendicular to the axis of said nested wheels, said wheels being normally disposed with adjacent planar sections substantially in contact, said planar sections having gang bolt receiving openings, gang bolt means passing through said openings for holding said wheels together axially, and bearing members separate from said end wheels and each member having a radially outwardly extending planar flange adapted to seat against and overlap the adjacent planar section of the associated end wheel, said planar flange having openings adapted to register with said openings in the planar sections of said wheels, said planar flanges 01' said bearing members having axially inwardly extending flanges adapted to interlock with the radially innermost-portions of the planar sections of the associated end wheels, whereby the assembly of the bearing members with the end wheels, with the gang bolt receiving openings thereof in alignment, is facilitated, said gang bolts being adapted to Hold said bearing members and said end and intermediate wheels in assembled relation.

A. HYLAND.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES Number Number Name Date Munz Apr. 15, 1884' FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Germany Jan. 9, 1893 

